WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 06: Helen Loring Ensign (L) of Palm Desert, California, recevies the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry on behalf of Army First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing from U.S. President Barack Obama (R) during a ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House November 6, 2014 in Washington, DC. President Obama presented the award posthumously to Lieutenant Cushing who served as commanding officer of Battery A, 4th United States Artillery, Artillery Brigade, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac for his actions during combat operations in the vicinity of Cemetery Ridge, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 3, 1863. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) less

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 06: Helen Loring Ensign (L) of Palm Desert, California, recevies the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry on behalf of Army First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing from U.S. President ... more

Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images

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WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 06: U.S. President Barack Obama (2nd L) and Helen Loring Ensign (L) of Palm Desert, California, who recevies the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry on behalf of Army First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing, listen to recitation of Cushing's heroic story during a ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House November 6, 2014 in Washington, DC. President Obama presented the award posthumously to Lieutenant Cushing who served as commanding officer of Battery A, 4th United States Artillery, Artillery Brigade, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac for his actions during combat operations in the vicinity of Cemetery Ridge, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 3, 1863. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) less

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 06: U.S. President Barack Obama (2nd L) and Helen Loring Ensign (L) of Palm Desert, California, who recevies the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry on behalf of Army First ... more

Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images

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WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 06: U.S. President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks during a Medal of Honor ceremony for Army First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing in the Roosevelt Room of the White House November 6, 2014 in Washington, DC. President Obama presented the award posthumously to Lieutenant Cushing who served as commanding officer of Battery A, 4th United States Artillery, Artillery Brigade, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac for his actions during combat operations in the vicinity of Cemetery Ridge, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 3, 1863. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) less

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 06: U.S. President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks during a Medal of Honor ceremony for Army First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing in the Roosevelt Room of the White House November 6, ... more

Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images

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Civil War hero awarded the Medal of Honor at last

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WASHINGTON — After more than 151 years, First Lt. Alonzo Cushing finally got his day at the White House, even if he could not enjoy it personally.

On Thursday, President Obama formally presented the Medal of Honor to the family of Cushing, a Union soldier who died at the Battle of Gettysburg after standing up to a fusillade of Confederate fire.

“His story is part of our larger American story, one that continues today,” Obama said at a ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. “The spirit, the courage, the determination that he demonstrated lives on in our brave men and women in uniform.”

No other U.S. soldier awarded the nation’s top military honor has had to wait as long for the decoration. Obama approved the medal this year, after a quarter-century lobbying campaign by advocates, led by Margaret Zerwekh, 94, a Wisconsin history buff whose house sits on land once owned by Cushing’s father. At the time of Cushing’s death, the medal was not awarded posthumously, so he was ineligible.

Search for relatives

But even the White House announcement in August did not end the tale. At that point, the Pentagon had to figure out who would receive the medal on Cushing’s behalf. Since he died without children at the age of 22, he has no direct descendants. But a distant relative, working with a museum in Chautauqua, N.Y., and aided by a low-profile Army office called the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch in Fort Knox, Ky., managed to piece together his family’s genealogy and locate his nearest kin.

That would be Helen Loring Ensign, 85, of Palm Desert (Riverside County), who is Cushing’s distant cousin, descended from his maternal aunt. She was on hand at the White House on Thursday to receive the medal, as were two other distant cousins, Frederic Stevens Sater from New York and Frederic Cushing Stevens III from Hoschton, Ga., and their families. Zerwekh also attended Thursday’s ceremony.

Lost in time

“Sometimes even the most extraordinary stories can get lost in the passage of time,” said Obama, who put his arm around Ensign as the formal text of the decoration was read. “This medal is a reminder that no matter how long it takes, it is never too late to do the right thing.”

Cushing, born in New York and later raised in Wisconsin, was one of four brothers who fought for the Union. An artillery commander, he was at Gettysburg during the Confederate charge named for Maj. Gen. George Pickett on July 3, 1863.

Cushing, respected by his men for his cool under fire, commanded the last cannon left firing in his battery. Though he could not see them through the haze of smoke, more than 10,000 Confederate infantrymen stalked toward them, in rows that stretched for a mile.

Although wounded by shrapnel in the right shoulder and groin, he refused to retreat, moved his cannon to a wall and kept firing. He was eventually shot in the mouth and died, but the Union success at repelling the Confederates at Gettysburg was considered the turning point in the Civil War.

Obama, the first African American to serve as president, alluded to the cause of racial freedom for which Cushing died.

“I’m mindful that I might not be standing here today as president,” he said, “if not for the ultimate sacrifices of those courageous men.”